Crypto Bantam 1895 ca. Crypto gear 3512-82

Crypto Bantam 1895 ca. Crypto gear # 6794

The Crypto Bantam occupies a very important place in the history of cycling. Its revolutionary epicyclic hub was a superb feat of engineering, enabling the machine to bridge the gap between Penny Farthings and safety bicycles i.e. the design we know as bicycles today. The Bantam was the very last of the original style of bicycle. The Ordinary (also known as the High Wheeler or Penny Farthing) was a machine for athletic young men. It was considered dangerous by the general public and, as a result, cycling was perceived as an exclusive pursuit. As the first solid-tyred safeties were developed in the early 1890s, an effort was made to retain the front-drive concept but to reduce the size of the front wheel to make control of the bicycle manageable.
Some manufacturers used complex lever mechanisms to gear up the drive or chain drives on either side of the forks, as in the Kangaroo cycle. But the use of an epicyclic hub gear provided the neatest solution. The resulting machine, the Crypto Bantam, used a gearing from +50% to 3:1, allowing a front wheel to be used which was very much smaller than the Ordinary.
It was described by its makers as ‘meeting the requirements of two classes of riders: those wanting a highly geared yet very light machine for racing on road or path (track), and those preferring a machine which could be easily mounted without having to use a step.’
The first machine, the Bantam FD (Front Driving) Safety, was introduced at the 1893 Stanley Cycle Show. Various models appeared in the following years, but production of all front-driven machines had ceased by the end of the 1890s, by which time the pneumatic tyred safety bicycle had become the dominant design. (source: 1896 Crypto Bantam | www.Oldbike.eu )
The machine we present has curved drop handlebars fitted with later composite rubber grips, brake lever and bell. The pedals have shaped rubber blocks. The front wheel has a diameter of 24 inch, the rear wheel is 21 inch in diameter. The wheels have tangentially opposed spokes and are fitted with pneumatic tyres. The front wheel comes with mudguard and front footrests, the rear wheel has a slightly dented mudguard. The leather saddle will need looking after. The fitted Lucas cycle oil lamp is a nice period accessory.